Campaign targets GPs’ syphilis testing blind spots

In a bid to combat Australia’s syphilis outbreak, a new campaign has been launched to bolster GPs’ awareness of, and confidence in, treating the condition.
 
It follows a survey of more than 800 Australian healthcare professionals, which revealed 54% do not feel confident about when to test for syphilis, and just 38% believe it is their responsibility to raise sexual health with patients.
 
It also found that while 88% of healthcare workers are equipped to test or refer for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), just 21% talk about sexual health with patients regularly.
 
This is despite Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Michael Kidd declaring syphilis a Communicable Disease Incident of National Significance in 2025, making it a national health priority.
 
In response, a targeted Stop Syphilis campaign has been launched, with GP and sexual health researcher Dr Karen Freilich saying all asymptomatic STI screening should include a blood test for both syphilis and HIV.
 
The campaign has been designed to equip healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses and community workers, with practical tools for early detection and testing.
 
Its resources include a clinical indicator tool, management guidelines, and a decision-making tool.
 
‘Because of this rise in syphilis cases, there’s been a real push to raise awareness, both to the general public, but also to healthcare providers to be testing more often,’ Dr Freilich told newsGP.
 
‘As a proud GP myself, I’m a strong believer that most sexual health lies in primary care – we have huge amounts of contact with populations of all demographics and sexual health is a huge part of what we do.
 
‘Raising awareness among GPs to make sure that syphilis is on our radar as something to think about and something to test for, symptomatically or asymptomatically, is hugely important to stop the spread and also to make sure that we have early treatment.’
 
The call comes as cases of syphilis almost doubled in Australia over the past decade, with 4779 cases reported in 2015 and 8995 in 2025.
 
So far in 2026, 1651 cases have been reported.
 
Dr Freilich said a big part of the new campaign is to ensure GPs are aware that ‘syphilis is very much back’.
 
‘It should be front of our radar – we should be aware that syphilis is increasing substantially and across all demographics and all populations,’ she said.
 
‘The other thing to be aware of is that syphilis, most of the time, presents asymptomatically, so regular testing of all patients who are sexually active, as well as all pregnant patients and patients who are planning a pregnancy, should be very much part of our radar as well.
 
‘But GPs are really well positioned to develop new understandings of emerging and re-emerging conditions and how to treat them.’
 
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ASHM sexually transmitted infection STI syphilis